Florida was pummeled by four major hurricanes during last year's
hurricane season. Those four storms proved tremendously damaging—and
intensely stressful—for millions of Florida residents.
Unfortunately for many, that stress only seemed to increase when
they returned to work.

Dr. Wayne Hochwarter

As the 2005 hurricane season begins, a Florida State University
professor is examining how such hurricane-related job stress is
manifested, and is offering advice for minimizing its harmful
effects on those at work following a hurricane.

Wayne A. Hochwarter, an associate professor of management in FSU's
College of Business, along with graduate students Mary Dana Laird
and Robyn Brouer, developed a program of research to determine how
hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne affected the stress
levels of Floridians as they went back to work after the storms.
The
results were consistent throughout the state:

Hurricane stress was associated with higher
levels of organizational cynicism.

Hurricane stress caused individuals
to become more accountable
for getting their job done faster, which required increased
effort and energy.

Hurricane stress caused employees to become
more anxious and
jittery on the job.

Stress like this will lead employees to suffer from burnout, which
can cause a variety of health and psychological maladies, Hochwarter
said of his findings. "Also, because of the number of hurricanes
that employees in the state experienced last year, they became
increasingly anxious and then began to feel overwhelmed.
Interestingly, a number of organizations I have visited in the last
few months were beginning to experience the same level of anxiety
even before this year's hurricane season began. The uncertainty has
a paralyzing effect on individuals because they just don't know what
to expect."

His research also indicates that there are ways to minimize the
effects of hurricane-related job stress. For example, such stress
had a lesser influence on health and well-being when:

Social support from the employer was offered.

Employees had the discretion to dictate the pace of their own
work activities (e.g., having control).

Individuals had an optimistic view of life.

Individuals were
able to get away from work and "recharge
their
battery," even for a short amount of time.

Most importantly,
when organizations increased communications during these tumultuous
times to minimize uncertainty.

"It's important for employers to proactively prepare for hurricane
season and anticipate the needs of their employees," Hochwarter
said. "The best thing employers can do is keep the lines of
communication open and allow employees to play an active role in
preparing the organization for hurricane season."

In particular, he said, employers can reduce hurricane-related
stress among their employees by having a detailed hurricane recovery
strategy in place so that employees will know that they still have
a
job, as well as understand procedures for dividing workloads, taking
time off or receiving help.

"Preparing for hurricanes is often discussed as boarding up
buildings more quickly, or developing better evacuation plans,"
Hochwarter said. "The fact remains that most people unfortunate
enough to experience a hurricane have to return to work. My research
indicates that it may be fruitful for organizations to address
stress-related consequences for those who are returning to the job
before, during and after the hurricane."

Data for Hochwarter's research was gathered from three sources:
an
exclusive sample of individuals employed in various industries
across the state, a manufacturing organization in Central Florida,
and a refuse removal firm in North Florida. All respondents reported
being affected by one or more hurricanes.

Hochwarter will present a report on his findings at a conference
of
the Southern Management Association in November.